"Alright, alright," Zhao Heng said with a wry smile, shaking his head. "It's so common for brothers to talk about money as soon as they meet."

  Wang Zhenyu burst out laughing: "Yes, yes, little brother has learned his lesson. Let's have dinner together and I'll drink three cups of wine as punishment. Can we consider the matter settled?"

  Zhao Henghe felt much more at ease: "You, still so impulsive and reckless. Don't rush to eat, I have a letter of appointment here that I must read to you first."

  Wang Zhenyu deliberately teased: "Commander Tan's superior order, who was it, Zhu Cihen? Hurry up and set up the incense case."

  Zhao Hengyu kicked Wang Zhenyu with a bad temper: "Got it, stop this set, who doesn't know who you are?"

  Wang Zhenyu sat down on the chair with a smile, stretched out his legs and waited for Zhao Heng's orders.

  Zhao Hengyu helplessly shook his head: "I won't read the rest, just the main points. Hereby appointing Wang Zhenyu as the Garrison Commander of Xiangxi, the troops under his command will be reorganized into the Xiangxi Defense Team, and their military expenses will be resolved locally, given to you."

  Wang Zhenyu took it with both hands, then suddenly shouted: "Song Haomin, go and find a frame to mount it, hang it on the wall! I'm the Town Guardian now, haha!"

  Then Wang Zhenyu pulled Zhao Hengru, who was running wildly, and went to eat.

  The meal was very sumptuous, Wang Zhenyu actually didn't advocate for frugality in his private life, but he strongly emphasized rules, that is, what level you are at can only consume so much, and the excess part comes out of your own pocket. Xu Yuanquan, Wan Yao Huang, Yang Wanguo and other confidants also accompanied him, Zhao Hengdi got drunk when he was excited.

  Actually, this trip to Xiangxi, Tan Yanqian had a mission, mainly to see if he could pull Wang Zhenyu over, after all, the territory of Xiangxi is now in this kid's hands.

  However, Zhao Hengyu deeply knew that Wang Zhenyu, although having a good relationship with himself, would absolutely not mix public and private matters. Even if he really let himself persuade him, and Wang Zhenyu's brain became muddled and he surrendered to Tang Dudu, how reliable could this person who had been an emperor on earth be?

  So Zhao Heng decided not to speak, lest he hurt his brother's feelings.

  Halfway through the drink, Liu Xing was also called over. Wang Zhenyu immediately shouted: "Brother-in-law, this is my sworn brother Zhao Hengyu, who helped with the pardon last time. You should toast him a cup."

  Liu Xing hastily toasted Zhao Hengyu a cup, and Zhao Hengyu hurriedly drank it: "This sworn brother of mine is not good at this point. He should have done something that ought to be done, but instead he brought it up at the wine table. He didn't even invite me to his wedding, so everyone says, should he be penalized or not?"

  Everyone immediately started booing, and Wang Zhenyu also knew that he hadn't done a good job this time, so he had to punish himself with three cups of wine, as a result, he got drunk.

  When the guards carried Wang Zhenyu back to the bedroom, Ye Ziyun was dazed by the smell of wine and immediately got angry. The big sister's temper flared up, and a basin of cold water directly splashed Wang Zhenyu awake. The disheveled Wang Zhenyu had no choice but to hold onto his quilt and honestly ran to the study to sleep. As he walked, he was still shouting angrily: "A good man does not fight with a woman, don't think that as your husband I'm afraid of you little girl."

  As a result, a pillow flew out, and all the guards were secretly laughing, then collectively pretending to be blind.

  In the first year of the Republic, on July 15, 1912, Wang Zhenyu officially took office as the garrison commander of Xiangxi, and Zhao Hengti, representing Tan Yankai, presented the seal of the garrison commander to Wang Zhenyu in public.

  Wang Zhenyu then announced the latest administrative divisions and systems within the jurisdiction of the Xiangxi Town Guardian:

  Xiangxi Prefecture has three prefectures and twelve counties; Chenyuan Prefecture, the prefectural seat is Fenghuang, under which are Fenghuang, Chenzhou, Xuzhou, Yuanzhou four counties; Qianyang Prefecture, the prefectural seat is Qiancheng, under which are Hongjiang, Luyang, Qiancheng, Anjiang four counties; Jingzhou Prefecture, the prefectural seat is Jingxian, under which are Huitong, Jingxian, Tongdao, Suining four counties.

  County-level autonomy, establish county council.

  Established Chenyuan Administrative Office, Qiancheng Administrative Office, Jingzhou Administrative Office with a special commissioner, mainly playing the role of supervision, inspection and monitoring. The office has seven supervisory groups: finance, justice, auditing, planning, culture and education, agriculture and forestry, industry and commerce.

  The county magistrate is elected by the County Council composed of representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, education, villages and towns, with a term of four years. The people's autonomy at the county and village levels allows clan and ethnic forces to continue to exist, on the premise that they do not violate the law.

  The Garrison Command is divided into the following departments:

  Political Affairs Bureau (including Traffic Division, Cultural Education Division, Health Division, Construction Planning Division, Agriculture and Forestry Division, Industry and Commerce Division)

  Legal Affairs Bureau (including Judicial Division, Anti-Corruption Division, Prosecution Office, Audit Division)

  Internal Affairs Bureau (including Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, Internal Security General Corps, Investigation Division, Archives Division)

  Financial Affairs Bureau (including Financial Division, Taxation Division, Inspection General Corps, Materials Division).

  Simultaneously establish the Xiangxi Local Court and the Local Council.

  One by one, the latest orders were quickly released in the name of the Xiangxi Town Guardian Envoy, while Wang Zhenyu, who had just been promoted to Xiangxi Town Guardian Envoy, was busy stamping his seal on these orders. From this moment on, Wang Zhenyu, who controlled the land of Xiangxi, already had the qualifications to be called a great general.

  Wang Zhenyu had just become the town guard of Xiangxi, and before he could even get excited for a while, he saw the order sent back to him by the provincial government. It turned out that the town guard office was required to be placed in Fenghuang, which surprised Wang Zhenyu, why Fenghuang?

  Tan Yanqing actually had an ulterior motive here, because he knew that Feng Huang was not under Wang Zhenyu's control at the moment, so he deliberately gave this order, with the intention of triggering a new round of chaos in western Hunan.

  Wang Zhenyu also found that although he had been promoted, the actual territory under his control was still only the two prefectures of Jingzhou and Qianyang.

  Absolutely cannot allow the existence of dúlì forces within one's own territory, Wang Zhenyu shouted loudly, completely disregarding that he himself was also a dúlì force within Tan Yanqin's territory.

  For Fenghuang, Wang Zhenyu, who has traveled many times, is still very familiar with it. Fenghuang is really not a simple place:

  Phoenix was formerly known as Zhen Gan, and before the Tang and Song dynasties, it was basically a region controlled by the Miao people. Due to population growth, after the Song and Ming dynasties, the imperial court came here through conquest and military reclamation. Continuous immigration and continuous war gradually formed the boundary between the Miao and Han peoples. The constant conflicts and wars between the Miao and Han peoples over the centuries have made this place a permanent garrison, hence the name "Gan Army".

  In Fenghuang, whenever it comes to its history, you can't ignore the most classic expression of the city's residents' honor for their ancestors: "No Xiang is not a soldier, no Gan is not a Xiang." During the Qing dynasty's Xianfeng period, Zeng Guofan's Hunan army, which suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, had a team called "Tiger Prestige Camp" led by Tian Xingxu. They fought in more than a dozen provinces and won over 200 battles, earning them the name "Tiger Prestige Always Victorious Army." The soldiers of Gan liked to tattoo the words "Tiger Prestige Always Victorious Army" on their left arms. During battles, they would show off their tattoos, swing their knives, and ride horses, shouting and cheering each other on. Their enemies would see this and lose heart.

  When attacking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's capital, Tianjing, Tian Xingxu and his fellow townsman Zhang Wende led the charge up the city walls. After the victory, two of them were promoted to general, six became deputy generals, nine became vice-generals, and eleven became assistant generals. When they returned home in triumph, they brought with them gold, silver, silk, and other treasures from the imperial palace, as well as ancient artifacts and fine clothes looted from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's palaces.

  The soldiers who stayed behind to guard the old camp in the small town of Fenghuang were filled with envy for these brothers who had risen to greatness. They thought that if they could just break out of Fenghuang and fight their way across the world, maybe they too could become generals or governors one day. If they could die a heroic death on the battlefield, or earn a high rank through their bravery, then in old age they could retire and live a peaceful life, fishing by the river, hunting in the autumn fields, and enjoying their twilight years.

  Those who were not so lucky, but still had the spirit of youth, would proudly show off their tattoos to their children and grandchildren, telling them stories of how they fought against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

  This seemingly glorious honor is actually linked to a tragic history, that is, the deformed social form of "all people are soldiers" under the "Tuntian Yangyong" system implemented by the Qing government at the end of the Qing dynasty. After the Qianlong and Jiaqing Miao people's uprising, the Qing government built more than 1,000 forts, barracks, watchtowers, artillery towers, and gates along the damaged Southern Great Wall, including over 800 in Fenghuang County. They requisitioned 60,000 mu of land for military cultivation, supported 4,000 soldiers, 1,000 warriors, and 2,000 Miao soldiers, totaling 7,000 people. Adding to this were the approximately 4,000 troops stationed by the imperial court, making a total of 10,000 people out of Fenghuang's population of around 100,000 who were constantly serving in the military, an astonishingly high proportion. The soldiers were divided into households and farmed while also standing guard, with their salaries deducted from the rent paid by the tenants working on the military land. As a result, tens of thousands of people in Fenghuang were tied to the imperial war chariot by the rope of military cultivation, making serving as a soldier and receiving rations a hereditary tradition. Every household with a soldier had a small white wooden plaque nailed to their door, bearing the name, age, and identity of the person serving in red characters. Almost every household on the streets had such an "honor plaque", and each month they could go to the barracks to collect a silver coin and a ration of food. The situation where "all land is military cultivation and all people are soldier households" cut off all avenues for the people of Fenghuang to pursue other industries, leaving only one path: using their flesh and blood to exchange for life.

  It's no wonder that the people of Fenghuang are so fond of martial arts. When this city was still a border town, the rough and simple quality of military life influenced generation after generation of its residents. From a young age, children were accustomed to watching soldiers in barracks practicing martial arts, enjoying watching adults hunt wild boars or leopards and then sharing the meat, and even enjoying watching clan leaders punish young wives who didn't obey them by drowning them in a river. Growing up in such an environment, the only path to success they could think of was to join the army, rely on their fearlessness and willingness to sacrifice themselves to make a name for themselves, become an officer, or even a high-ranking official, and then return home in glory. Before they were even as tall as a table, they would already play games where they pretended to be generals, shouting and fighting in the streets. These children couldn't wait to join the army, and soon became new recruits, adding another mouth to feed in the military barracks, while at home, there was one less mouth to feed that could never be satisfied. The young soldiers of Fenghuang were swept up by the powerful tradition of worshipping martial arts, carrying with them limitless longing for a bright future, fighting to the death on the battlefield, even spilling all their hot blood on foreign soil, without regret or complaint.

  However, the outcome of the Gun Army was a bit tragic. After liberation, they were originally accepted by our party's amnesty. But I don't know which link went wrong, maybe it was really the Kuomintang agent who stirred up trouble, or maybe it was the southern cadre who worked too roughly. As a result, a loud and intense campaign to suppress bandits in western Hunan was launched, and one battle lasted for three years, causing the entire western Hunan to be devastated, and the Gun Army was also made history, and even gained the glorious title of "bandit" in western Hunan, while the real bandits in western Hunan were honorably laid off.